Jaguar XF 2.7 diesel

I drove the Jaguar XF first for about 30 minutes.

My impressions....

Wow factor outside especially from rear.
Smart interior but no wow factor for me.
Engine quiet and refined. Slightly harsh ride around town.
Smooth on motorway.
Performance wasn't great though and not that much quicker than my C270 CDI.


When I left the garage I thought "No that's not the car for me - it's just too big".


Lexus IS250 SE-L (Multimedia)

After driving the Jag I though the Lexus would have to be pretty special to win my vote.
I've owned two Lexus's before so I wanted this car to be better but had my doubts.

I loved the look of the Lexus (especially with the subtle spoiler on it).
It was a 57 reg ex-demonstrator in silver with black leather.

After 10 minutes of driving it this was the car for me !

The engine is barely audible and even when really revving the engine the sound is lovely.
I loved the paddles on the steering wheel - superb !
The interior for me is better than the Jag and the sat nav is far better.
I loved the electric rear blinds !
The instrument cluster has wow factor also.
I loved the soft black leather and the wood trim.

It was so smooth and quiet and cruised beautifully on the motorway.

The road noise was fine (what the hell are What Car talking about when they say unsettled ride and road noise - have they ever driven the car ?)

The car I drove had 18" alloys but I also drove the 17" as I think I prefer those wheels.

I'm smitted by the car. It looks lovely and drives beautifully.

As for that engine sound.....

Anyway I then spent another hour with the dealer trying to sort a deal on the ex-demo car.
He is convincing me towards a new one as it is only £12 a month dearer.

He has left me with a quote sheet which I am mulling over but I'm sure I can get the car cheaper online.

I may do some hard bargaining with him to throw in 3 years free servicing.

I will write a separate thread about the finance deal they offered and I would welcome advice on whether you think it's a good deal.

The dealer quoted me figures for buying a new IS250 SE-L mutimedia.

He offered me £7975 for my car part-ex.

Deposit of £8500.

The price is £33,456 and is over 3 years with a £12442 guaranteed residual.

Monthly payments are £499 x 35 months.


I then went to buyacar.co.uk and these are the figures....


Price is £29,371 with a balloon payment of £12,700
Part ex probably approx £7000 (according to comprehensive form I filled in).
Deposit £5000

Monthly payments are £482 x 35 months.

Basically it's far cheaper online.


I had not done the sums on this until after I left the dealer but when I mentioned the online method the salesman said that the car won't be available as Lexus won't supply them at that price.

Is he correct here ?

Crikey I'm getting giddy here.

Has anyone bought a car from an online site ?

Any advice ?

I don't think he is correct in saying that Lexus won't supply the car at that price - if the online site is prepared to quote that figure then they must have a source who is prepared to deal with them, whether it is via the normal channels, grey imports or pre-registered.

As a general rule of thumb you should be able to get 8% discount off a dealer, possibly 10% on the higher spec models. At this point a dealer is giving away much of his profit margin but hoping to make it back on bonus payments for monthly and annual targets. Often the dealer will not discount the price much but give you an inflated price for your trade in (psychologically we feel better about this than being given the , possibly insulting, true trade in value for our pride and joy). The true cost is the cost to change.

My advice would to be really friendly to the dealer, tell him how much you want to buy from him, but apologetically say that the deal on the table with the internet site is too good to ignore. Go the internet route and I would wager before the end of the month your dealer is back on the phone offering you a better deal. I'd always preferto deal direct with a dealer so if you can get close on the figures I'd give them the business.

autoexpress had a article on buying online from sites likes buyacar.co.uk etc etc. im pretty sure if it is stated on the site they will honour it. its not just a made up site with made up figures. and looks like your dealer is just trying to "con" you into using him than the website to get the business and his bonus/sales targets. try and wait for a bit and deal with him, or ring another dealer and see what the offer. shop around before you stick to any deal.

try drivethedeal.com too. for a is250 se-l/auto/MM they quote £29071.08, a saving of £3691.41 according to them from dealer listed price. not sure about finance options with them tho.

Cheers for this. I've just done what you've said and told the dealer I can get it a lot cheaper.

He has now come back with £7000 deposit. £7250 for my car part-ex (which is fine by me).

£444 x 35 months with a guaranteed £12600 residual. Much better but I still can get cheaper I think.

I need to check with buyacar again but I think the Lexus deal is ok.

Do you think I could get it even cheaper from Lexus ?

Or ask him to throw him 3 years free servicing and that will secure the deal.

Oh and Lexus are fitting that nice rear lipped spoiler in the deal.

That doesn't seem a bad deal to me. Basically, he has come down £3425 with the deposit and payments over 35 months. He's offering you slightly less for your car and the final balloon payment has gone up slightly, so overall you are better off by £2542 against his original deal. Quite a good saving, plus you are geting free fitting on the spoiler.

It's still £600 or so more expensive than the online site but for my money it's close enough to go with the dealer - after all a good relationship with your dealer can be priceless if anything goes wrong in the future. An internet site is really only interested in selling you one car, whereas a dealer will want to sell you your next one and the one after, so will go the extra mile.

I'm not sure you could get free servicing as that would amount to another £750 being thrown your way, but good luck if you can get it!

Thanks for this. I am about to ring the dealer now to do the deal...

Sounds like a decent deal there, although I'm guessing there's no chance of haggling this deal in anymore then?

Link

(It did end at the end of March, but was only 2 weeks ago )

good way to do it is ring another dealer and tell them what deal another dealer is doing for you and if they can. If they do/can go back to your original one and tell them what you've got on the table. If new dealer can't then go to your current dealer anyhow and tell them the deal looks good but if you can throw in 2 services in the deal you have my deposit on the phone right now.

I told them if they fit the Lexuscare iPod kit they've got a deal. They agreed !

Sounds interesting, and congratulations for knocking a few quid from the original asking. From what I can see, you are paying 14,250 upfront (part-x and cash deposit), then to total of 15,540 over 35 months - after which I presume the car is legally yours, having paid a total of 29,790. At the end of year 3 the car is worth 12,700, but the car is yours then, right?
This prices the car at 5696 a year, or 474 a month.

Suprised that you found the Jag to have a slightly harsh ride.What size wheels were on it?

I put in £7000 and they offered £7500 for part-ex and it's costing me £419 a month (14,000 miles a year) and £12600 guaranteed residual.

I also bought the three year servicing for £557.